Nay

5 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  nay \nay\ (n[=a]), adv. [Icel. nei; akin to E. no. See {No},
     adv.]
     1. No; -- a negative answer to a question asked, or a request
        made, now superseded by {no}. Opposed to {aye} or {yea}.
        See also {Yes}.
        [1913 Webster +PJC]


  
              And eke when I say "ye," ne say not "nay."
                                                    --Chaucer.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              I tell you nay; but except ye repent, ye shall all
              likewise perish.                      --Luke xiii.
                                                    3.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              And now do they thrust us out privily? nay, verily;
              but let them come themselves and fetch us out.
                                                    --Acts xvi.
                                                    37.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              He that will not when he may,
              When he would he shall have nay.      --Old Prov.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     Note: Before the time of Henry VIII. nay was used to answer
           simple questions, and no was used when the form of the
           question involved a negative expression; nay was the
           simple form, no the emphatic. --Skeat.
           [1913 Webster]
  
     2. Not this merely, but also; not only so, but; -- used to
        mark the addition or substitution of a more explicit or
        more emphatic phrase.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     Note: Nay in this sense may be interchanged with yea. "Were
           he my brother, nay, my kingdom's heir." --Shak.
           [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Nay \Nay\, n.; pl. {Nays}.
     1. Denial; refusal.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. A negative vote; one who votes in the negative.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     {It is no nay}, there is no denying it. [Obs.] --haucer.
        [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Nay \Nay\, v. t. & i.
     To refuse. [Obs.] --Holinshed.
     [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  nay
       n : a negative; "the nays have it" [ant: {yea}]
       adv : not this merely but also; not only so but; "each of us is
             peculiar, nay, in a sense unique"

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  116 Moby Thesaurus words for "nay":
     Australian ballot, Hare system, No, abnegation, au contraire, aye,
     ballot, canvass, canvassing, casting vote, certainly not, con,
     contradiction, counting heads, cumulative voting, deciding vote,
     declension, declination, declinature, declining, denial,
     deprivation, disagreement, disallowance, disclaimer, disclamation,
     disobedience, dissent, division, enfranchisement, fagot vote,
     far from it, franchise, graveyard vote, hand vote, holding back,
     indeed, interest, list system, naysaying, negation, negative,
     negative answer, negative attitude, negativeness, negativism,
     negativity, nein, nit, nix, no, no such thing, non, nonacceptance,
     noncompliance, nonconsent, nonobservance, nontransferable vote,
     nope, not, not a bit, not a jot, not a whit, not really, not so,
     nyet, plebiscite, plebiscitum, plumper, plural vote, poll, polling,
     preferential voting, pro, proportional representation, proxy,
     quite the contrary, recantation, record vote, referendum, refusal,
     rejection, representation, repudiation, retention, right to vote,
     rising vote, say, secret ballot, show of hands, side, single vote,
     snap vote, straw vote, suffrage, the affirmative, the negative,
     thumbs-down, to the contrary, transferable vote, truly, turndown,
     unwillingness, verily, viva voce, voice, voice vote, vote, voting,
     voting right, withholding, write-in, write-in vote, yea,
     yeas and nays, yes